Sophisticated automated relationship alerter

ABSTRACT

Device, process and program for determining and alerting a user of the existence of nearby acquaintance, including: providing a first electronic communication device having near-field transmitting and receiving communications capability, a user interface and control circuitry; transmitting from the first communication device an inquiry to determine the presence in the near-field of a compatible second electronic communication device; upon receipt of a positive response to the inquiry, transmitting from the first communication device anonymous user indicia; receiving anonymous user indicia from the second communication device; coordinating the received anonymous user indicia to determine the presence of any matches between the transmitted anonymous user information and the received anonymous user indicia; and providing either a list of matches or an indication of no matches to the user via the user interface. Based on the information exchanged, the users can determine whether a relationship between the users exists or might be created.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and mobile communicationapparatus for associating relationship information about friends andknown and/or potential acquaintances through a local interface adapterin a user friendly manner.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Electronic equipment, such as, for example, mobile communicationdevices, mobile telephones, personal digital assistants, etc. aretypically equipped to communicate with mobile or cellular telephonecommunication networks. Such electronic equipment is increasingly beingequipped with adapters to support advanced communications in a varietyof media other than or in addition to such mobile telephone networks.Such advanced communication media may include, for example, Ethernet,Bluetooth, 802.11, wireless local area networks (WLANs), WiFi, WiMax andthe like, in addition to a mobile telephone network. These advancedmedia are referred to herein as “near field” (or “near-field”)communications media. It is noted that in a cellular telephone network,the near-field communication may include communication with anothermobile telephone user, in which case the near-field connection isbetween the mobile telephone and the cell tower through which itconnects to the mobile telephone network.

Typically when electronic equipment performs a search to determineavailable devices having a particular near-field modality (e.g.,Bluetooth) in which to connect, all such devices within modality range(i.e., near-field) of the searching electronic equipment are identifiedto the user. One problem associated with conventional identification isthat it is common for the identification to be listed by an anonymousname or other arbitrarily assigned label which does not identify theuser of the contacted device and does not provide any information as topossible relationship to the searching electronic equipment or its user.As such, the identification is not very useful outside a closed group offrequent contacts already known to the user. Based upon this ratherambiguous identification, a person using electronic equipment has toaccept or not accept a request to connect to the ambiguously identifieddevice based upon this limited information. Another problem associatedwith conventional identification of discovered devices is that theidentification may not be associated with the electronic equipmentuser's electronic phonebook.

A number of global relationship networking applications, such as Orkut,Friendster, LinkedIn and Facebook, have developed on the Internet. Oneproblem with such sites is that they require a lot of administration,another is that they require access to the Internet, and another is thatthey represent social networking online instead of in real life, inone's immediate surroundings. Such networking applications are toocumbersome to allow for immediate contact with a new acquaintance, suchas a friend of a friend, or a further professional contact known from afirst professional contact, or a relative of a friend or relative.

SUMMARY

In view of the aforementioned shortcomings associated with contacting,identifying and connecting to near-field users of mobile electronicequipment who may be a friend, extended friend (e.g., a friend of afriend), or a known and/or potential acquaintance, there is a strongneed in the art for a mechanism to make such contacts. There is a strongneed to contact and unambiguously identify near-field users ofelectronic equipment who may be friends, friends of friends, orprofessional contacts, etc. There is a strong need to associate suchidentification and contact information with a list of contactinformation for, e.g., friends and known acquaintances, stored in theuser's own electronic device, to facilitate making new contacts anddiscovering commonalities, such as friends in common, even when thepersons making the new contact do not already know one another, e.g.,are potential acquaintances. In addition, there is a strong need for thecapability to make such new contacts in a way that allows the personsparticipating to maintain their anonymity and personal information untilsuch time as the decision is made to actually make contact and to sharesuch personal information.

Thus, in one embodiment, the present invention relates to a process fordetermining and alerting a user of the existence of nearby acquaintance,including: providing a first electronic communication device havingnear-field transmitting and receiving communications capability, a userinterface and control circuitry; transmitting from the firstcommunication device an inquiry to determine the presence in thenear-field of a compatible second electronic communication device; uponreceipt of a positive response to the inquiry, transmitting from thefirst communication device anonymous user indicia; receiving anonymoususer indicia from the second communication device; coordinating thereceived anonymous user indicia to determine the presence of any matchesbetween the transmitted anonymous user information and the receivedanonymous user indicia; and providing either a list of matches or anindication of no matches to the user via the user interface. Based onthe information exchanged, the users can determine whether arelationship between the users exists or might be created.

In one embodiment, the present invention relates to an electroniccommunication device, including:

communications circuitry to provide near-field transmitting andreceiving communications;

a user interface; and

control circuitry to (a) maintain a friends list including firstanonymous user indicia and associated real user information for aplurality of individual persons known to a user of the device andassociated second anonymous user indicia, (b) maintain a meetings log ofcontacts between the user and the individual persons, (c) activate thecommunications circuitry to transmit to a second electroniccommunication device in a near-field a portion of the first and/orsecond anonymous user indicia, (d) activate the communications circuitryto receive from the second electronic communication device thirdanonymous user indicia, (e) coordinate the third anonymous user indiciawith information on the friends list and/or in the meetings log todetermine the presence of any matches between the first and/or secondanonymous user information and the third anonymous user indicia; and (f)provide to the user interface either a list of matches or an indicationof no matches.

In one embodiment, the control circuitry further activates thecommunications circuitry to determine near-field presence of the secondelectronic communication device prior to (c).

In one embodiment, the control circuitry further updates the friendslist and/or the meetings log.

In one embodiment, the second anonymous user information includesinformation relating to one or more of the plurality of individualpersons on the friends list.

In one embodiment, the meetings log further includes informationrelating to contacts between pairs of the individual persons on thefriends list.

In one embodiment, the device is a mobile telephone and thecommunications circuitry further comprises voice communicationscapability.

In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a process fordetermining and alerting a user of the existence of known and/orprospective acquaintances in a near-field, including:

providing a first electronic communication device having circuitry totransmit and receive communications in a near-field, a user interface,and control circuitry to (a) maintain a friends list including firstanonymous user indicia and associated real user information for aplurality of individual persons known to the user and associated secondanonymous user indicia, and (b) maintain a meetings log of contactsbetween the user and the individual persons;

transmitting from the first communication device an inquiry to determinethe presence in the near-field of a compatible second electroniccommunication device;

upon receipt of a positive response to the inquiry, transmitting fromthe first communication device the anonymous user indicia for a portionof the friends list;

receiving third anonymous user indicia from the second communicationdevice;

coordinating the third anonymous user indicia with information on thefriends list to determine the presence of any matches between the firstand/or second anonymous user information and the third anonymous userindicia; and

providing either a list of matches or an indication of no matches to theuser via the user interface.

In one embodiment, the process further includes reviewing the list ofmatches and determining whether to further communicate with the secondcommunications device.

In one embodiment, the process further includes communicating with thesecond communications device to exchange more detailed informationrelating to at least a portion of the first, second and/or thirdanonymous user indicia.

In one embodiment, the process further includes reviewing the list ofmatches and determining whether to add any item from the third anonymoususer indicia to the friends list and/or to update the meetings log withinformation based on the third anonymous user indicia.

In one embodiment, the process further includes communicating with thesecond communications device to exchange more detailed informationrelating to at least a portion of the first, second and/or thirdanonymous user indicia, and adding the more detailed information to thefriends list and/or updating the meetings log.

In one embodiment, the second anonymous user information includesinformation relating to one or more of the plurality of individualpersons on the friends list.

In one embodiment, the meetings log further includes informationrelating to contacts between pairs of the individual persons on thefriends list.

In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a process forestablishing communication between first and second electroniccommunication devices and determining whether a relationship existsbetween users of the first and second devices, the first and seconddevices each including compatible near-field communications capability,a memory, a processor, a user interface and being programmed to maintaininformation relating first and second anonymous user information withsecure detailed user information for a plurality of known individualpersons, including:

the first device transmitting to the second device a discovery request,including transmitting to the second device first anonymous userinformation of the first device;

the second device receiving the discovery request and responding withthird anonymous user information from the second device;

the first device receiving the third anonymous user information of thesecond device;

the first device determining whether the third anonymous userinformation corresponds to information stored by the first device;

the first device displaying on the user interface information relatingto the third anonymous user information including any matches betweenthe first anonymous user information and the third anonymous userinformation; and

the first electronic device responding to the second electronic deviceto establish communication between the users.

In one embodiment, the first device includes control circuitry to (a)maintain a friends list including the first anonymous user indicia andassociated real user information for a plurality of known individualpersons, wherein the associated real user information further includesanonymous user indicia for additional individual persons known to any ofthe plurality of known individual persons on the friends list, and (b)to maintain a meetings log of contacts between the user and the knownindividual persons and contacts between pairs of the additionalindividual persons on the friends list.

In one embodiment, the process further includes reviewing the list ofmatches and determining whether to further communicate with the secondcommunications device.

In one embodiment, the process further includes communicating with thesecond communications device to exchange more detailed informationrelating to at least a portion of the first, second and/or thirdanonymous user indicia. In one embodiment, the more detailed informationincludes a portion of the real user information associated with one ofthe anonymous user indicia.

In one embodiment, the process further includes reviewing the list ofmatches and determining whether to add any item from the third anonymoususer indicia to the friends list.

In one embodiment, the process further includes communicating with thesecond communications device to exchange more detailed informationrelating to at least a portion of the first, second and/or thirdanonymous user indicia, and adding the more detailed information to thefriends list. In one embodiment, the more detailed information includesa portion of the real user information associated with one of theanonymous user indicia.

In one embodiment, the process further includes reviewing the list ofmatches and determining whether to update the meetings log withinformation based on the third anonymous user indicia. In oneembodiment, the process further includes updating the friends listand/or the meetings log based on new information received during theprocess.

In one embodiment, the process further includes communicating with thesecond communications device to exchange more detailed informationrelating to at least a portion of the first, second and/or thirdanonymous user indicia, and adding the more detailed information to themeetings log. In one embodiment, the more detailed information includesa portion of the real user information associated with one of theanonymous user indicia.

In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a program stored ona machine readable medium, the program for controlling operation of anelectronic device and including executable logic to:

control operation of communications circuitry providing near-fieldtransmitting and receiving communications, a user interface, and controlcircuitry;

control operation of the control circuitry to (a) maintain a friendslist including first anonymous user indicia and associated real userinformation for a plurality of known individual persons and associatedsecond anonymous user indicia, (b) maintain a meetings log of contactsbetween the user and the known individual persons;

activate the communications circuitry to transmit to a second electroniccommunication device in a near-field a portion the first and/or secondanonymous user indicia;

activate the communications circuitry to receive from the secondelectronic communication device third anonymous user indicia;

control operation of the control circuitry to coordinate the thirdanonymous user indicia with information on the friends list and/or inthe meetings log to determine the presence of any matches between thefirst and/or second anonymous user information and the third anonymoususer indicia; and to provide to the user interface either a list ofmatches or an indication of no matches.

In one embodiment, the program further includes executable logic toactivate the communications circuitry to determine near-field presenceof the second electronic communication device prior to activating thecommunications circuitry to transmit the anonymous user indicia. Thisdetermination may be made automatically or by manual activation of thecommunications circuitry.

In one embodiment, the program further includes executable logic toupdate the friends list and/or the meetings log.

In one embodiment, the program further includes executable logic tocontrol operation of the control circuitry to coordinate informationrelating to one or more of the plurality of known individual persons onthe friends list and/or in the meetings log.

In one embodiment, the program further includes executable logic tocontrol operation of the control circuitry to coordinate informationrelating to contacts between pairs of the individual persons on thefriends list and/or in the meetings log.

In one embodiment, the program further includes executable logic tocontrol operation of the communication circuitry to exchange with thesecond communications device more detailed information relating to atleast a portion of the first, second and/or third anonymous userindicia.

In one embodiment, the program further includes executable logic tocontrol operation of the control circuitry to add the more detailedinformation to the friends list and/or to the meetings log.

Other systems, devices, methods, features, and advantages of the presentinvention will be or become apparent to one having ordinary skill in theart upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description.It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, andadvantages be included within this description, be within the scope ofthe present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprise/comprising” when used inthis specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features,integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components orgroups thereof.

The term “electronic equipment” includes portable radio communicationequipment. The term “portable radio communication equipment”, whichherein after is referred to as a mobile radio terminal, includes allequipment such as mobile telephones, pagers, communicators, i.e.,electronic organizers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portablecommunication apparatus, smart phones or the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other embodiments of the invention are hereinafterdiscussed with reference to the drawings. The components in the drawingsare not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearlyillustrating the principles of the present invention. Likewise, elementsand features depicted in one drawing may be combined with elements andfeatures depicted in additional drawings. Moreover, in the drawings,like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating electronic equipment inaccordance with aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block schematic diagram illustrating electronic equipment inaccordance with aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an exemplary local communication systembetween separate electronic equipment at a near-field distance “d” inaccordance with aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of elements of an exemplary device inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an example of the contents of a friends list for an exemplarymobile telephone in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is an example of the contents of a meetings log for an exemplarymobile telephone in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary program in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary flow chart of an embodiment of a communicationmethod in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

All ranges and ratio limits disclosed in the specification and claimsmay be combined in any manner. It is to be understood that unlessspecifically stated otherwise, references to “a”, “an”, and/or “the” mayinclude one or more than one, and that reference to an item in thesingular may also include the item in the plural. All combinationsspecified in the specification and claims may be combined in any manner.

In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to electronicequipment, sometimes referred to herein as a communication device,mobile telephone, portable telephone and electronic device having animproved method for association and/or discovery through a localinterface adapter (e.g. a wired and/or wireless local interface adapter)with other electronic equipment. In describing the present invention,reference is made to a mobile telephone for convenience; this is merelyexemplary and is not limiting to the scope of the invention.

In one aspect of the invention, a mobile telephone initiates a searchfor electronic equipment having a predetermined modality and withincommunication range of the mobile telephone. This may include a cellulartelephone carrier's system. Electronic equipment capable of respondingto the request (e.g., another near-field user's electronic equipmentsuch as a second mobile telephone) transmit information through a localinterface adapter. Such information may include, for example, an inquiryincluding information such as a unique identifier and, optionally,additional unique identifiers of friends known to the inquiring user.The unique identifier may be any unique characteristic, item or featurethat may be assigned to a contact, and the unique identifier isanonymous in that while it is unique to any individual person, it doesnot actually identify that person, except to others who know theindividual person and have that person's anonymous unique identifierassociated with the person's actual identity. Herein, the uniqueidentifier is referred to as the person's anonymous identity, orANON_ID. The ANON_ID could, for example, be a unique identifier such asa telephone number, a session initiation protocol (SIP) address, or anencrypted name of the person, or a 128-bit unique identification numberencrypting, e.g., a name. In any case, the ANON_ID is unique to theindividual person, so that each individual using the system of thepresent invention is uniquely identified by the ANON_ID. Each individualuser of the system of the present invention has stored in the user'selectronic equipment a list of ANON_IDs and an associated list ofadditional, variously detailed information about the actual personassociated with a given ANON_ID. Such detailed information or portionsof it is not shared until such time as the user and the new contact haveconfirmed each other's actual identification and made a decision to meetand/or to share detailed information with each other. The detailedinformation may include, for example, personal and/or business and/orprofessional information, biometric information such as fingerprints,retinal scans, iris scans, hand measurements, voice recognition,photographs of the face, anatomical traits, etc. In addition, thedetailed information may include other specific information known to theuser, such as a record of previous meetings, a list of the contact'sknown friends and acquaintances (also stored and associated with theirown ANON_ID) and other details, which may include, e.g., personal,business and/or professional information, social security number, E-mailaddress, IP address, audio recordings, video recordings, passwords, andthe like. Some or all of the detailed information may or may not beshared, at the discretion of the individual user, in any givensituation. The present invention provides to the user control of thelevel or degree of identification provided to any new or old contact.The level of identification may range, for example, from nothing morethan anonymous information such as the ANON_ID of the user only, to alist of ANON_IDs of the user and of selected friends and acquaintances,to a list of ANON_IDs and full or partial history of previous meetingswith the persons associated with the ANON_ID, to any level ofidentification, including the above-mentioned personal information.

By receiving the unique identifier associated with the newly contactedelectronic equipment, the user of the mobile telephone may search anassociated database, such as an electronic phonebook application, havingstored unique identifying information associated with each user'sANON_ID to identify contact information associated with the ANON_ID andto the real person. For example, if a received unique identifier isstored in the electronic phonebook of the mobile telephone, the mobiletelephone may display a user-friendly designation corresponding tocontact information previously stored in the electronic phonebook to theassociated user of the mobile telephone.

In one embodiment, the communication described herein is directlybetween users of mobile telephones configured to carry out the functionsand operations described herein. Thus, in this embodiment, there is nocentral server or network connection involved in the communication, andthe communication is directly peer-to-peer.

In one embodiment, there is a central server or network through whichconnections and communications are made. In this embodiment, the userwould make a connection, for example, through a mobile telephonenetwork, or in another embodiment, through a Wi-Fi network in aninstitution such as a university. In this embodiment, the central servermay be used to create and store unique ANON_IDs, so that every user hashis or her own unique ANON_ID across the network. This embodiment wouldthus facilitate making a given user's ANON_ID more widely known and toallow for association of specific information or individual status thatmay be of further interest to other users. For example, a dating servicecould provide the central server on which members can store theirANON_ID and any selected information, and through which members maydiscover and contact each other directly when in near-field range of oneanother. In this embodiment, members could be alerted to the presence inthe near-field of other members sharing common interests or meetingpreviously determined specific criteria. In this way pairs of memberswho did not previously know each other could more easily make contact,even though they did not share any other friends and are not listed oneach other's friends list or meeting log.

In another embodiment, any or all of the information may be stored on acentral server and the communication described herein between users ofmobile telephones configured to carry out the functions and operationsdescribed herein takes place over a network, such as a mobile telephonenetwork.

Referring to FIG. 1, electronic equipment 10 is shown in accordance withan exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The electronicequipment 10 in the exemplary embodiment is a mobile telephone and willbe referred to as the mobile telephone 10. As noted above, theelectronic equipment may be any known electronic equipment, but isexemplified herein as a mobile telephone. The mobile telephone 10 isshown as having a “brick” or “block” design type housing, but it will beappreciated that other type housings, such as clamshell housing or aslide-type housing, may be utilized without departing from the scope ofthe invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the electronic equipment 10 may include a userinterface 12 (identified by dotted lines) that enables the user easilyand efficiently to perform one or more communication tasks (e.g.,identify a contact, select a contact, make a telephone call, receive atelephone call, establish and manage local wireless and/or wiredexchanges of information, etc.). The user interface 12 of the mobiletelephone 10 generally includes one or more of the following components:a display 14, an alphanumeric keypad 16, function keys 18, a navigationtool 19, a speaker 20, and/or a microphone 22. The user interface 12 ofthe mobile telephone 10 includes components configured to carry out theprocesses and to activate the programs of the present invention.

The display 14 presents information in a viewable format to a user. Suchinformation may include operating state, time, telephone numbers,contact information, unique identifiers, various navigational menus,status of one or more functions, photographs, multimedia, etc., whichenable the user to utilize the various features of the mobile telephone10. The display 14 may also be used to visually present contentaccessible by the mobile telephone 10, as well as display contactinformation from an electronic phonebook in accordance with aspects ofthe present invention. The displayed content may include E-mailmessages, audio and/or video presentations stored locally in memory 24(FIG. 2) of the mobile telephone 10 and/or stored remotely and downloadto the mobile telephone 10 (e.g., from a remote storage device, a mailserver, remote personal computer, etc.). Such presentations may bederived, for example, from multimedia files stored on a remote webserver, received through E-mail messages, etc. The multimedia files mayinclude any type of multimedia content (e.g., video, audio, graphics,songs, movies, television broadcasts, radio broadcasts, satellite radiobroadcasts, etc.). The audio component of such presentations, includingan end-user code, may be broadcast to the user with speaker 60 of themobile telephone 10. Alternatively, the audio component may be broadcastto the user though a headset speaker (not shown). In one embodiment,operation of the mobile telephone 10 may be fully or partiallycontrolled by inputs directly to the display 14.

The mobile telephone 10 further includes a keypad 16 that provides for avariety of user input operations. For example, the keypad 16 may includealphanumeric keys for allowing entry of alphanumeric information such asuser-friendly identification of contacts, E-mail addresses, distributionlists, telephone numbers, phone lists, contact information, notes, etc.In addition, the keypad 16 typically may include special function keyssuch as a “call send” key for transmitting an E-mail, initiating oranswering a call, and a “call end” key for ending, or “hanging up” acall. Special function keys may also include menu navigation keys, forexample, for navigating through a menu displayed on the display 14 toselect different telephone functions, profiles, settings, etc., as isconventional. Other keys associated with the mobile telephone 10 mayinclude a volume key, audio mute key, an on/off power key, a web browserlaunch key, a local adapter association key (e.g., for wired and/orwireless communications), an E-mail application launch key, a camerakey, etc. Keys or key-like functionality may also be embodied as a touchscreen associated with the display 14.

The mobile telephone 10 may also include conventional call circuitrythat enables the mobile telephone 10 to establish a call, transmitand/or receive E-mail messages, and/or exchange signals with acalled/calling device, typically another mobile telephone or landlinetelephone. However, the called/calling device need not be anothertelephone, but may be some other electronic device such as an electronicdevice compliant with one or more communication protocols, Internet webserver, E-mail server, content providing server, etc.

Referring to FIG. 2, a functional block diagram of the mobile telephone10 is illustrated. The mobile telephone 10 includes a primary controlcircuit 30 that is configured to carry out overall control of thefunctions and operations of the mobile telephone 10. The control circuit30 may include a processing device 32, such as a CPU, microcontroller ormicroprocessor. The processing device 32 executes code stored in memory(not shown) within the control circuit 30 and/or in a separate memory,such as memory 24, in order to carry out operation of the mobiletelephone 10 and perform all of the functionality disclosed herein. Asillustrated in FIG. 2, the control circuit may include functionality tocontrol the main device functions, such as those of the mobile telephone10, to control additional device functions such as media functions, andthe relationship alerter functions in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention. It will be apparent to a person having ordinary skillin the art of computer programming, and specifically in applicationprogramming for mobile telephones or other electronic devices, how toprogram an electronic device such as the mobile telephone 10 to operateand carry out logical functions associated with the programmingdescribed herein. Accordingly, details as to specific programming codehave been left out for the sake of brevity. Also, while thecommunications and process of the present invention is executed by theprocessing device 32 in accordance with the described embodiment, suchfunctionality could also be carried out via dedicated hardware orfirmware, or some combination of hardware, firmware and/or software.

The memory 24 may be any suitable memory device. For example, the memory24 may be, for example, random access memory, read only memory, abuffer, a flash memory, a hard drive, a removable media, a volatilememory and/or a non-volatile memory or a combination of any of theforegoing. In order to carry out the various functions described herein,the memory 24 may include one or more computer applications (orsub-applications), including a control program 26 programmed to achievethe functionality described herein.

Continuing to refer to FIGS. 1 and 2, the mobile telephone 10 includesan antenna 34 coupled to a radio circuit 36. The radio circuit 36includes a radio frequency transmitter and receiver for transmitting andreceiving signals via the antenna 34 as is conventional. The mobiletelephone 10 generally utilizes the radio circuit 36 and antenna 34 forvoice, Internet and/or E-mail communications over a cellular telephonenetwork. The mobile telephone 10 further includes a sound signalprocessing circuit 38 for processing the audio signal transmittedby/received from the radio circuit 36. Coupled to the sound processingcircuit 38 are the speaker 20 and a microphone 22 that enable a user tolisten and speak via the mobile telephone 10 as is conventional. Theradio circuit 36 and sound processing circuit 38 are each coupled to thecontrol circuit 30 so as to carry out overall operation.

The mobile telephone 10 also includes the aforementioned display 14 andkeypad 16 coupled to the control circuit 30. The mobile telephone 10further includes an I/O interface 42. The I/O interface 42 may be in theform of typical mobile telephone I/O interfaces, such as a multi-elementconnector at the base of the mobile telephone 10. As is typical, the I/Ointerface 42 may be used to couple the mobile telephone 10 to a batterycharger to charge a power supply unit (PSU) 44 within the mobiletelephone 10. In addition, or in the alternative, the I/O interface 42may serve to connect the mobile telephone 10 to a wired personalhands-free adapter, to a personal computer or other device via a datacable, etc. The mobile telephone 10 may also include a timer 46 forcarrying out timing functions. Such functions may include timing theduration of calls, generating the content of time and date stamps, etc.

The mobile telephone 10 may also include various built-in accessories,such as a camera 48 for taking digital pictures. Image filescorresponding to the pictures may be stored in the memory 24. In oneembodiment, the mobile telephone 10 also may include a position datareceiver (not shown), such as a global positioning satellite (GPS)receiver, Galileo satellite system receiver or the like. In anotherembodiment, the mobile telephone 10 may include a biometric input device49 for entering biometric information that may be used for scanningand/or otherwise obtaining biometric information associated with theuser of the mobile telephone 10 and/or contacts maintained in the memory24.

To establish communication with other near-field devices, such as awireless headset, another mobile telephone, a computer, other electronicequipment, etc., the mobile telephone 10 may include a local interfaceadapter 50. The local interface adapter 50 may be any adapter operableto facilitate communication between the mobile telephone 10 and at leastone electronic device. For example, the local interface adapter 50 maybe wired and/or wireless and may support communications utilizing anycommunication protocol (e.g., Ethernet, Bluetooth, 802.11, WLAN, WiFi,WiMax, Infrared, etc.).

The mobile telephone 10 may be configured additionally to operate in awide area communications system (e.g. 2G, 3G, GPRS, etc.) (notillustrated). The system may include one or more servers for managingcalls, Internet access and/or E-mails placed by and/or destined to themobile telephone 10, transmitting content (e.g., image files, audiofiles, video files, etc.) to and/or from the mobile telephone 10 andcarrying out any other support functions. The server generallycommunicates with the mobile telephone 10 via a network and atransmission medium. The transmission medium may be any appropriatedevice or assembly, including, for example, a communications tower,another mobile telephone, a wireless access point, a satellite, theInternet, etc. Portions of the network may include wireless and/or wiredtransmission pathways.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary communication system 60 in accordancewith the present invention. The system 60 includes a first mobiletelephone 10 and a second mobile telephone 10′ at a near-field distance“d”. Although both devices are shown as mobile telephones, theelectronic devices each may be any electronic device capable ofsupporting communication with communications through interface adapter50 of the electronic device. For example, the electronic device may beelectronic equipment, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a personal computer (PC), a pager, etc. As stated above, thefirst mobile telephone 10 and the second mobile telephone 10′ areadapted to communicate with each other through wireless and/or wiredlocal interface adapters. For example, the first mobile telephone 10 andthe second mobile telephone 10′ are capable of communicating with eachother using Bluetooth or any other desirable wired and/or wireless localcommunication protocols. The following discussion will focus oncommunications between the first mobile telephone 10 and the secondmobile telephone 10′ using Bluetooth compatible protocols. However, oneof ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that othercommunication protocols and/or specifications may also be implemented inaccordance with the present invention (e.g., 802.11 compliant standards(e.g. 802.11(a), 802.11(b), 802.11(g), etc.), WiFi, WiMax, infrared,Ultra Wideband, near-field communications, radio frequencyidentification, Ethernet, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 3, the first mobile telephone 10, associated withClient A, and the second mobile telephone 10′, associated with Client B,illustrate communication devices that include a mobile ad hoccommunication network. Client A and Client B may be, for example,patrons in a coffee shop, participants in a professional meeting, orpeople in some other environment, such as a sporting event or anightclub. In one embodiment, the mobile ad hoc communications networkis a Bluetooth piconet that includes one master device and up to sevenactive slave devices. In operation, the local interface adapter 50,which may be Bluetooth compatible, is activated to conduct an inquiryprocess to discover all Bluetooth enabled devices in its coverage area(also referred to herein as the communication range). In anotherembodiment, the inquiry process is limited to only those devicespreviously stored in the control program 26 of the mobile telephone 10.In another embodiment, the inquiry process is limited to a subset ofdevices previously specified in the control program 26. In anotherembodiment, the inquiry process is limited to a subset of persons listedin the control program 26. For examples, the inquiry process may belimited to professional contacts only, or to personal contacts only, orto family contacts only. In one embodiment, the inquiry may be limitedto a single person.

For this particular example, the first mobile telephone 10 and thesecond mobile telephone 10′ are within an operative distance “d” fromeach other, as illustrated in FIG. 3. The distance “d” is withinnear-field communication range of the first mobile telephone 10 and thesecond mobile telephone 10′. One of ordinary skill in the art willreadily appreciate that the operative near-field distance “d” will varydepending on, among other things, the modality used for communication.For example, the operative range for Bluetooth communication may be lessthan about 10 meters. In one embodiment, the near-field distance inwhich the present invention operates is in the range from less than 10meters to about 500 meters, and in another embodiment, is in the rangefrom less than 10 meters to about 100 meters. Longer distances may alsobe within the scope of the invention, for example, distances withinmobile telephone communications capabilities.

Referring to FIG. 3, the first mobile telephone 10 enters into adiscovery substrate to discover other Bluetooth devices within theoperative range. Typically, this occurs by the mobile telephone 10entering the inquiry substrate to discover other Bluetooth devices. TheBluetooth specification defines inquiry access codes that allow a deviceto specify the type of device it is seeking, such as PDA's, mobiletelephones, printers, LAN access points, etc. During the inquiryprocess, the first mobile telephone 10 generates an inquiry hoppingsequence. This inquiry hopping sequence is derived from the first mobiletelephone 10 clock and the chosen inquiry access code. Once the firstmobile telephone 10 generates an inquiry hopping sequence, it broadcastsinquiry messages as it sequentially switches to each channel defined inthe hopping sequence.

In one embodiment, discoverable devices periodically enter the inquiryscan substrate. In this substrate, devices hop according to the inquiryscan hopping sequence, which is also based on the inquiry access codeand the local clock. If the device performing the inquiry scan (e.g.,the second mobile telephone 10′) receives an inquiry message, it entersthe inquiry response substrate and replies with an inquiry responsemessage. The inquiry response includes the remote device's address andclock, a unique identifier (e.g., telephone number, SIP address, etc.).

In one embodiment, only discoverable devices within the operativebroadcast range “d” that recognize the one or more ANON_ID transmittedby the mobile telephone 10 will respond to the device inquiry.

During the discovery process related to the present invention, the firstmobile telephone 10 and the second mobile telephone 10′ are capabletransmitting a unique identifier, such as the ANON_ID disclosed above.As noted, this unique identifier is referred to as “ANON_ID”, and aplurality of ANON_IDs may be referred to, e.g., by sequential numbersappended, such as “ANON_ID_34”.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown a schematic illustration ofelements of an exemplary system, such as software programmed andhardware included in a mobile telephone, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. The mobile telephone illustrated inFIG. 4 is associated with Client A and, as shown, may communicate withClient B via an electronic device (ED) which may be, for example, thesecond mobile telephone 10′.

As shown in FIG. 4, the system includes a friends list, which stores theANON_IDs and the real names and details of the friends, in which eachANON_ID is mapped to the associated real name and other personalinformation known to the user of the mobile telephone 10. As shown inFIG. 4, the system further includes a meetings log, containing recordsof meetings between the user of the mobile telephone 10 and the friendslisted in the friends list. The meetings log may be arranged, forexample, simply by associating each ANON_ID with a record of themeetings between the user and the owner of each ANON_ID listed. Themeetings log may be used as a reference to earlier meetings with a givenfriend, and as a reminder of significant details regarding the meetingand/or friend. As shown in FIG. 4, the system further includes Searchand Coordination Software which, as its name implies, controls thesearch and transmission functions of the mobile telephone, coordinatesthe contents of the friends list and the meetings log, and providesinput and control of information provided to the User Interface, whichmay include items such as a mobile telephone display, a keyboard, alaptop computer screen, a desktop computer monitor, etc. Finally, asshown in FIG. 4, the system further includes a Near-Field Transmitterand Receiver, which operates, for example, Bluetooth communicationcapability. As shown in FIG. 4, the Near-Field Transmitter and Receiverprovides communications to, e.g., the electronic device of Client B,such as the second mobile phone 10′.

Referring next to FIG. 5, there is shown an example of the contents of afriends list for an exemplary mobile telephone system, such as thatshown in FIG. 4, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the friends list includes a list ofcontact's ANON_IDs, associated private information regarding the realperson associated with each of the ANON_IDs, and a list of friendsshared by each of the contacts on the ANON_ID list. As indicated in FIG.5, in one embodiment, portions of the friends list, each friendidentified only by its own respective ANON_ID, may be shared whencommunicating in accordance with the invention. As indicated in FIG. 5,in one embodiment, the private information associated with each contactis not shared. In another embodiment, the private information, orportions thereof, may be shared with another used in communication inaccordance with the invention, depending on individual circumstances.This feature of the invention provides for the user to select the degreeof confidentiality as appropriate for any given circumstance. Thus, forexample, if operation of the process in accordance with the inventiondiscovers a close friend who has not been contacted in some time, theexchange of information may be more extensive than for a new contact,made with a previously unknown person.

FIG. 6 is an example of the contents of a meetings log for an exemplarymobile telephone system, such as that shown in FIG. 4, in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 6,the meetings log stored in the user's mobile telephone includes a listof ANON_IDs for all the contacts listed, and associated information suchas details of past meetings with each contact, and/or such as friends incommon, and cross-references between various members of the contact listknown to be acquainted with one another, and other details of previousmeetings with the various contacts.

Referring next to FIG. 7, there is shown a software program flow chart700 illustrating the operation of one electronic device, such as thefirst mobile telephone 10 in contact with the second mobile telephone10′, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in FIG. 7 at step 710, initially, the user powers on the firstmobile telephone 10, and then sends a search inquiry or discoveryrequest. The search inquiry may simply be an attempt to contact anycapable device having an appropriate near-field transmitter andreceiver, such as that shown in FIG. 4, and being within the near-fielddistance “d”. The search inquiry may also include initially only theANON_ID of the person using the first mobile telephone 10 or it mayinclude both the ANON_ID of the person and one or more additionalANON_IDs, e.g., of the person's friends or contacts.

As shown in FIG. 7, at step 720, the software determines whether it hassuccessfully discovered and made contact with another electronic device,e.g., the second mobile telephone 10′. If “yes”, the first mobiletelephone 10 has discovered and made contact with the second mobiletelephone 10′, then as shown in step 730, the first mobile telephone 10transmits a Friends Inquiry to the second electronic device 10′. Thetransmitted Friends Inquiry may include, for example, a list of all orsome subset of all the ANON_IDs stored in the friends list of firstmobile telephone 10. As noted, the subset of ANON_IDs transmitted mayinclude any selected grouping, such as friends, professional associatesor family members, as determined by the user. In case no otherelectronic device is found to respond, the determination at the step 720is “No”, then the process terminates and returns to the first step 710.At this point, upon being returned to the step 710, the user may simplystop, or may switch to another frequency or communication method tocarry out a search for other devices in the near-field. In oneembodiment, the steps 720 and 730 may be combined, or may be carried outsimultaneously.

Referring still to FIG. 7, when the program has transmitted its FriendsInquiry in the step 730, the program determines whether a responseincluding friends in common, or identifying the user of the contacteddevice as a friend, is received from the contacted device, e.g., fromthe second mobile telephone 10′ as illustrated in step 740. If “Yes”,then the process proceeds to step 750. If “No”, then the processterminates and returns to the first step 710. In the step 750, the userof the first mobile telephone 10 compares the returned list of ANON_IDsreceived from the second mobile telephone 10′ to its own friends list todetermine whether either the user of the second mobile telephone 10′ orany of that user's friends have an ANON_ID that has already been storedin the first user's friends list.

Referring still to FIG. 7, when the program in the first mobiletelephone 10 has received one or more ANON_ID from the second mobiletelephone 10′, then the software carries out a search of its friendslist and/or meetings log to determine if there are any matches, as shownin step 760.

If one or more matches is found at step 760, the answer to the inquiryat the step 760 is “Yes”, then the software generates a list of thematching ANON_IDs, as shown in step 770. In one embodiment, the list ofthe matching ANON_IDs is displayed to the user. After matching ANON_IDsare found and an output generated, the user may be notified if the userof the second mobile telephone 10′ is a friend already and if there areany friends in common, based on the search of the friends list and/ormeetings log. At step 780, based on the list of matches obtained in step770, the user can determine whether to add to its friends list or updateits meetings log with the information relating to the contact made andthe ANON_IDs included in the contact. In one embodiment, the list ofmatches automatically is added to the friends list and/or the meetingslog automatically is updated, as appropriate.

If no match is found at step 760, the answer to the inquiry at step 760is “No”, then the software skips the step 770, and proceeds to step 780,where the user can inquire whether the new contact might want to makefriends. If the answer to the inquiry at the step 780 is “No”, then theprocess terminates and returns to the first step 710. If the answer tothe inquiry at the step 780 is “Yes”, then the user of the first mobiletelephone 10 proceeds to step 790, to add the new friend to its friendslist and/or to update its meetings log to record the events having justtranspired. Following the step 790, the process terminates and returnsto the step 710. At this point, the users of the first mobile telephone10 and the second mobile telephone 10′ may meet, talk, etc., as may beappropriate. At this point, the respective users may also elect toupdate the personal information in their friends list, based on the newcontact and/or on new information received from this meeting with thecontact where the contacts were previously known to one another.

Referring next to FIG. 8, there is shown an exemplary flow chart 800 ofan embodiment of a communication method in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention. As depicted in FIG. 8, in a first step 810 afirst user's mobile telephone (MT) (or other electronic device capableof near-field communication) initiates a discovery request and transmitsthe first user's ANON_ID and, optionally, the ANON_ID of one or more ofthe first user's friends, to a second electronic device (ED) in thenear-field, which may constitute a new contact. Consistent with thepreviously described embodiments, MT may be the first mobile telephone10 and ED may be the second mobile telephone 10′. In one embodiment, notexplicitly depicted in FIG. 8, the first step 810 may be preceded by astep in which the first user's mobile telephone MT transmits an inquiryto determine the presence of one or more second electronic device ED,such as a mobile telephone or other compatible near-field communicationdevice, and upon receipt of a positive response, then initiates the step810. In this embodiment, the control circuitry activates thecommunications circuitry to determine near-field presence of the secondelectronic communication device prior to step 810. The control circuitrymay carry out this determination automatically or by the user manuallyactivating the communications circuitry to carry out this determination.In the embodiment in which this determination is automatically carriedout, it may occur in a manner corresponding to the maintenance of alocal connection to a mobile telephone network.

As depicted in FIG. 8, in a subsequent step 820, the second electronicdevice ED received the discovery request transmitted by the first user'smobile telephone MT and responds with the second device ED's ANON_IDand, optionally, with the ANON_ID of one or more friend of the user ofthe second device ED, which is transmitted back to the first user'smobile telephone MT.

In a subsequent step 830, the first user's mobile telephone MT receivesthe ANON_ID from the second user's electronic device ED, which istransmitted by the second electronic device to the first electronicdevice.

Thereafter, in a step 840, using the software programmed into the firstuser's mobile telephone, the first mobile telephone MT determineswhether any of the one or more ANON_ID received from the secondelectronic device ED correspond to any ANON_ID listed by a friends liststored in a memory associated with the first user's mobile telephone MT.

Following the step 840, in a step 850, the first user's mobile telephoneMT determines whether any matches exist and displays in a user sensibleformat the contact information for any known ANON_ID of either thesecond user's electronic device ED or of any of the second user'sfriends for any such matches. The user sensible format in the step 850may include, for example, a user interface such as a display on themobile telephone or, optionally, in an audio format from a speaker onthe mobile telephone MT.

In a further step 860, the first user of the mobile telephone MT and thesecond user of the electronic device ED decide whether to establish acommunication link between the devices MT and ED based either on knowingeach other or on any friends in common. In addition, as shown in thestep 860, the first user of the mobile telephone MT and the second userof the electronic device ED can each decide whether to add each other totheir respective friends list, based on either the new contact betweenthe two users or based on any friends they have in common. Of course,the first and second users may already be listed in each other's friendslist, in which case the method of the present invention is used by themto discover their present proximity to each other and to make contactbased on that proximity. For example, both the first and second usersmay already be friends and may independently arrive at a common venue,such as a shopping mall or an outdoor event, and thence may use theinvention to discover the near-by presence of their friend at the samevenue and to make contact with the friend. Thus, the present inventionmay be used both to make contact with “old” friends and to discover“new” friends, with the new contact being based on, e.g., friends oracquaintances in common and listed in one or both of the users' friendslist, or on common interests determined from one or both of the users'meetings log.

Specific embodiments of an invention are disclosed herein. One ofordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the invention mayhave other applications in other environments. In fact, many embodimentsand implementations are possible. The following claims are in no wayintended to limit the scope of the present invention to the specificembodiments described above. In addition, any recitation of “means for”is intended to evoke a means-plus-function reading of an element and aclaim, whereas, any elements that do not specifically use the recitation“means for”, are not intended to be read as means-plus-functionelements, even if the claim otherwise includes the word “means”. Itshould also be noted that although the specification lists method stepsoccurring in a particular order, the steps may be executed in any order,or one or more steps may be executed at the same or substantially thetime.

Computer program elements of the invention may be embodied in hardwareand/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code,etc.). The invention may take the form of a computer program product,which can be embodied by a computer-usable or computer-readable storagemedium having computer-usable or computer-readable program instructions,“code” or a “computer program” embodied in the medium for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system. In the context of thisdocument, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be anymedium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport theprogram for use by or in connection with the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device. The computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus,device, or propagation medium such as the Internet. Note that thecomputer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper oranother suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as theprogram can be electronically captured, via, for instance, opticalscanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, orotherwise processed in a suitable manner. The computer program productand any software and hardware described herein form the various meansfor carrying out the functions of the invention in the exampleembodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic communication device, comprising: communications circuitry to provide near-field transmitting and receiving communications; a user interface; and control circuitry configured to: (a) maintain a friends list comprising personal information of persons known to a user of the electronic communication device, the friends list also includes a first anonymous user indicia for at least a first person known to the user of the electronic communication device, wherein the first anonymous user indicia corresponds to information that identifies the first person in a database accessible by the electronic communication device but does not include personal information of the first person, (b) activate the communications circuitry to determine near-field presence of a second electronic device within communication range of the electronic device, (c) activate the communications circuitry to transmit to the second electronic communication device a portion of the first anonymous user indicia and/or second anonymous user indicia associated with the user of the first electronic communication device, wherein the second anonymous user indicia corresponds to information that identifies the user of the first electronic communication device in a database accessible by the second electronic communication device but does not include personal information of the user of the first electronic communication device, (d) activate the communications circuitry to receive from the second electronic communication device third anonymous user indicia, (e) coordinate the third anonymous user indicia with information on the friends list to determine the presence of any matches between the first and/or second anonymous user indicia and the third anonymous user indicia; and (f) provide to the user interface either a list of matches or an indication of no matches, but to share no personal information until such time as users of the first electronic communication device and the second electronic communication device have decided to meet, thereby unambiguously identifying near-field users of electronic communication devices who are potential acquaintances in a way that allows anonymity and concealment of personal information until such time as the decision is made to actually make contact and to share such personal information.
 2. The electronic communication device of claim 1 wherein the control circuitry further activates the communications circuitry to determine near-field presence of the second electronic communication device prior to (d).
 3. The electronic communication device of claim 1 wherein the control circuitry further updates the friends list.
 4. The electronic communication device of claim 1 wherein the second anonymous user indicia comprises information relating to one or more of the plurality of individual persons on the friends list.
 5. The electronic communication device of claim 1 wherein the control circuitry is configured to maintain a meetings log comprising records of previous meetings between the user and the persons known to a user of the first electronic communication device.
 6. The electronic communication device of claim 1 wherein the first electronic communication device is a mobile telephone.
 7. A process for determining and alerting a user of the existence of known and/or prospective acquaintances in a near-field, comprising: operating a first electronic communication device having circuitry operable to transmit and receive communications in a near-field, a user interface, control circuitry and a program stored on a non-transitory machine readable medium operable to (a) maintain a friends list comprising personal information of persons known to a user of the first electronic communication device, the friends list also includes a first anonymous user indicia for the persons including at least a first person known to the user of the first electronic communication device, wherein the first anonymous user indicia corresponds to information that identifies the first person in a database accessible by the first electronic communication device but does not include personal information of the first person; activating the communications circuitry to determine near-field presence of a second electronic communication device within communication range of the first electronic communication device; upon receipt by the first electronic communication device of a positive response to the determination, transmitting from the first electronic communication device to the second communication device the first anonymous user indicia for a portion of the friends list and/or second anonymous user indicia associated with the user of the first electronic communication device, wherein the second anonymous user indicia corresponds to information that identifies the user of the first electronic communication device in a database accessible by the second electronic communication device but does not include personal information of the user of the first electronic communication device; receiving in the first electronic communication device third anonymous user indicia from the second communication device; coordinating in the first electronic communication device the third anonymous user indicia with information on the friends list to determine the presence of any matches between the first and/or second anonymous user indicia and the third anonymous user indicia; and providing either a list of matches, or an indication of no matches to the user via the user interface of the first electronic communication device but to share no personal information until such time as users of the first electronic communication device and the second electronic communication device have decided to meet, thereby unambiguously identifying near-field users of electronic communication devices who are potential acquaintances in a way that allows anonymity and concealment of personal information until such time as the decision is made to actually make contact and to share such personal information.
 8. The process of claim 7 further comprising reviewing the list of matches and determining whether to further communicate with the second communications device.
 9. The process of claim 8 further comprising communicating with the second communications device to exchange more detailed information relating to at least a portion of the first, second and/or third anonymous user indicia.
 10. The process of claim 7 further comprising reviewing the list of matches and determining whether to add any item from the third anonymous user indicia to the friends list.
 11. The process of claim 10 further comprising communicating with the second communications device to exchange more detailed information relating to at least a portion of the first, second and/or third anonymous user indicia, and adding the more detailed information to the friends list.
 12. The process of claim 7 wherein the second anonymous user information comprises information relating to one or more of the plurality of individual persons on the friends list.
 13. The process of claim 7 comprising maintaining a meetings log comprising records of previous meetings between the user and the persons known to a user of the first electronic communication device.
 14. A manufacture embodying a non-transitory machine readable medium having stored therein a program for controlling operation of a first electronic communications device and comprising executable logic configured to: control operation of communications circuitry providing near-field transmitting and receiving communications, a user interface, and control circuitry; control operation of the control circuitry to (a) maintain a friends list comprising personal information of persons known to a user of the first electronic communication device, the friends list also includes a first anonymous user indicia for the persons including at least a first person known to the user of the first electronic communication device, wherein the first anonymous user indicia corresponds to information that identifies the first person in a database accessible by the first electronic communication device but does not include personal information of the first person; activate the communications circuitry to determine near-field presence of a second electronic communications device within communication range of the first electronic communications device; activate the communications circuitry to transmit to the second electronic communication device in a near-field a portion of the first anonymous user indicia and/or second anonymous user indicia associated with the user of the first electronic communication device, wherein the second anonymous user indicia corresponds to information that identifies the user of the first electronic communication device in a database accessible by the second electronic communication device but does not include personal information of the user of the first electronic communication device; activate the communications circuitry to receive from the second electronic communication device third anonymous user indicia; control operation of the control circuitry to coordinate the third anonymous user indicia with information on the friends list to determine the presence of any matches between the first and/or second anonymous user indicia and the third anonymous user indicia; and to provide to the user interface either a list of matches or an indication of no matches, but to share no personal information until such time as users of the first electronic communication device and the second electronic communication device have decided to meet, thereby unambiguously identifying near-field users of electronic communication devices who are potential acquaintances in a way that allows anonymity and concealment of personal information until such time as the decision is made to actually make contact and to share such personal information.
 15. The manufacture of claim 14 wherein the program further comprises executable logic to activate the communications circuitry to determine near-field presence of the second electronic communication device prior to activating the communications circuitry to transmit the anonymous user indicia.
 16. The manufacture of claim 14 wherein the program further comprises executable logic to update the friends list.
 17. The manufacture of claim 14 wherein the program further comprises executable logic to control operation of the control circuitry to coordinate information relating to one or more of the plurality of known individual persons on the friends list.
 18. The manufacture of claim 14 wherein the program further comprises executable logic to control operation of the control circuitry to coordinate information relating to contacts between pairs of the individual persons on the friends list.
 19. The manufacture of claim 14 wherein the program further comprises executable logic to control operation of the communication circuitry to exchange with the second communications device more detailed information relating to at least a portion of the first, second and/or third anonymous user indicia.
 20. The manufacture of claim 19 wherein the program further comprises executable logic to control operation of the control circuitry to add the more detailed information to the friends list. 